


Purple Lightning and Flowing Silks

by TheNinjaMouse



Category: Underfell - Fandom, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), An Ocean on Fire spinoff, Characters to be added, Cyberpunk, F/F, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parkour, References to Drugs, Suggestive Themes, Underfell Grillby (Undertale), Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Underfell W. D. Gaster
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:53:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23256493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNinjaMouse/pseuds/TheNinjaMouse
Summary: The year is 203X. Monsters have been free of the Underground for five years but it seems that the bitter feelings and anger hasn't quite faded between the two races. The city is patrolled by those hoping to keep the monsters under control, leaving them to take out their frustrations on each other and the humans who live in the city with them.Your name is Shore. You don't like being watched and you don't like being told what to do. What you do like is to run. So you run until you quite literally run into the owner of a monster nightclub, causing more than a little disturbance and roping yourself in a world of magic and monsters.
Relationships: Grillby (Undertale)/Reader, W. D. Gaster/Grillby, W. D. Gaster/Grillby/Reader, W. D. Gaster/Reader
Comments: 47
Kudos: 213





	1. Freefall

**Author's Note:**

> I'm giving this Underfell thing a go! This story is going to be fairly dark and is a sort of experimental stretch of writing in a direction that I don't usually go. This is a spinoff of Ocean on Fire and will have several characters from that story featured but will in no way impact the main story.  
> Thanks for joining me and visit my Tumblr!

You can’t hesitate during a run. You can’t stop to think or let the fear of failing slow you down. That’s when you get hurt. That’s when the worst happens, like broken legs or shattered wrists or _worse_! Getting _caught_.

Still, there’s nothing wrong with a healthy amount of fear. And you’re certainly feeling it now, balanced as you are on edge of the surveillance tower. Or as you like to call it, the Great Bloody Eye of Sauron; all seeing, all knowing and a great pain in the ass.

You scan the sky again, letting your gaze drop to the glistening city below. It’s chilly tonight, the wind whipping sharply at the few strands of hair that have escaped your hood. Thanks to the new mask and it’s soft lining, only your eyes and the tops of your cheeks suffer from the cold at the current moment.

“Time?” Tyler, similarly dressed in a hood and mask, is perched on the southern side of the tower edge, also on lookout. His mask is simple black compared to your design of elongated demon teeth.

Faith is the one who answers. She’s currently in the most precarious position of all, clinging to the thin metal structure that houses the heart of the surveillance system, just under the disc that sends and receives signals from all over the city. “I need sixty-five seconds,” she calls, voice muffed by her own mask. She drops a tool to where Liam stands directly below her, ready to catch her should she fall.

Not that she will. None of you ever fall on accident.

“Cut it to fifty, I see lights from 7th and Boyland,” Tyler orders sharply.

“Shut up and or it’ll be eighty _. Merda_!” Faith swears colorfully as a few sparks hiss from the wiring.

“That was fast. Looks like they’re finally learning,” you muse, staring out over your part of the city.

“Well we did blow up an entire building last time,” Liam points out.

“It was a _shack_ at best, and not my fault!” Faith squawks. “That faulty setup was a fire waiting to happen.”

“Less shouting, more hacking!” Tyler pulls out a small set of binoculars and fiddles with the night settings. He grimaces. “Looks like they’re Blues.”

Ah. Crap, that really isn’t good. Worse, you’ve just spotted several pairs of lights headed your way from the north side. It’s hard to tell, but you think they might be flashing with blue lights among the red and yellow. “There’s more over here, coming in fast.”

“Get prepped to split.” Tyler stood with the ease of one in the middle of a field of flowers, rather than inches away from a drop that was a good twenty stories tall. “Shore, take the Vine and East route instead, there’s more air traffic there to lose them in.”

You bite back your groan. That takes you right into the heart of the monster district! That means way more cameras, more traps and puzzles to avoid _and_ a higher chance of someone pulling you into a fight, which is the last thing you want. But Ty’s right; you’ve got more of a chance of giving a Blue drone the slip through there. “So, I can assume you want me to get them to follow me?”

“If you’d be so kind.”

“Wow, good to know I’m the expendable one.” 

“You’re the fastest. You’ll be fine.” Tyler shoots you a cheeky grin. He tosses you a thin rod and you sigh.

“Fine, but drinks are on you tonight.”

“Deal, I’ve got a new place I want to try anyway.” Ty’s attention has shifted again, staring out to the now very rapidly approaching lights. The wind carries the faint buzz of whirling blades. “Faith? Running out of time here.”

There’s a sharp clang and the shrill beeping of an alarm rings out, only to die away moments later. “Give me….one…second…. Got it!” She slams the cover of the paneling shut. “Remote access installed!”

“Good job love!” Liam calls as she slid down into his waiting arms. “But let’s celebrate later, yeah?”

He tugs at her and Faith blows you and Tyler a kiss. With a gleeful shout, the two of them leap over the edge of the building into the open air. Moments later you hear the distant _pop_ of their impact gear activating.

Tyler gives you a salute and wink before he hops up on the ledge, turns so that his back faces the city and lets himself fall backwards.

Showoff.

You sigh and tap your foot. All right: time to get this over with.

The drones are now fully visible, screeching like raging bees. There’s five of them coming from the north and another two from the east. They’re already beginning to veer off to chase after the other three. Can’t have that now!

You break the flare rod with a quick snap. Instantly, it begins to glow and whistle shrilly as harmless bursts of light explode from the end. It’s enough to catch the attention of the drones. The stupid machines don’t stop once they’ve latched onto a target and you’ve gone and painted a big old red flag on your back.

Perfect.

You lightly bounce in place for a moment until you see the glinting light of the camera lens. Then, twisting as you jump, you give them a very special gesture with both hands as you plummet through the open air.

The wind rips at you, doing nothing to slow your fall other than to rip your hood off. Your hair trails behind, the dyed purple strands bright in the lights of the drones fixed on you as they all swerve to follow.

You count down in your head as the buildings and the ground below rapidly approach. You breathe in…and out….

You double tap your wrists together, activating the electromagnets lining your pants and jacket to just fifty percent. Too much and you’ll slam against the building, leaving you bruised (possibly broken) and ripe for the picking for the drones. You feel the tug of the magnets and jerk close enough that you can practically feel the metal and glass of the building inches away.

You spy your target; a neighboring building with pipes and air vents scattered on its roof. A vicious whoop escapes you as you throw your gloved hands out to slow your momentum even more. A flick of the wrist to disable the magnets, a quick push with your feet and you’re sailing through the air in a more controlled fall. The drones drop pass, caught off guard by your sudden change in direction.

You keep your body loose as you hit the roof, instantly leaning into a tumble. It’s such a controlled landing that your impact gear isn’t even activated.

Ha! You wish the others had been around to see that.

Still, there’s no time to gloat. You hop to your feet, not bothering to slow down as you take off running, tugging your hood back onto your head. The shrieking of the drones is still far too close for comfort. You know this area, you’ve run through here a dozen times. The buildings are old, full of angles and interesting obstacles that perhaps don’t make any sense from an architectural standpoint but do create a wonderfully complex parkour trail.

Your body moves on instinct, leaping over pipes, lunging up the sides of buildings and swinging down into alcoves and alleyways. It’s like a dance, where every step counts. Your feet move with surety, your hands never faltering as you speed over the rooftops of Daiport City. The lights, the noise, the people all passing by in a blur, yes. This is your city, your home, as flawed and broken as it is. Running through it is second nature to you.

And yet! You can’t shake the drones!

You hear the sound of a building laser and just barely manage to doge the stream of blue magic that shoots out of the drone. Stupid freaking blue magic! Just a single hit from one will stop you dead in your tracks. One caught you before a few months back when you were on a run after another…less than legal activity. It had enveloped you and you, not knowing what the hell it was, had tried to move out of the beam and found yourself hit with an electric shock sort of pain that locked your limbs into place. Luckily, Tyler had been there and knocked the machine out of the air with a bat. It had been the first one you’d ever seen of that nature and there’s only been more and more of them since then.

You only glance back once to count them. There’s at least ten on your tail now.

Forget free drinks tonight. Tyler is going to owe you _months_ of handling the bill after this.

Time to get lost in a crowd. You turn on your heel, heading towards the downtown district of the monster. It’s risky, especially if the Blues start signaling for more police force drones but monsters _hate_ drones and have far more defenses against them that are programmed to ‘accidentally’ mess with flight patterns or cause short circuiting.

Ironic, considering that so many of them are made with monster tech in the first place.

You dare not slow down, even as you leave the more human populated city behind and dive into the world of monsters. It’s not that the city is…divided with strict lines exactly. It’s just that when monsters suddenly came up from the under the mountain five years ago, they had a rather intense mistrust of humanity. Well deserved, as it turned out, since it was your kind that trapped them underground in the first place.

They eventually made their way into Daiport city and took over some of the more abandoned areas, transforming it into a world that thrived on magic and puzzles and the occasional turf war. Which wound up leading to the increased security and borderline mob and gang mentality in the city but it’s _fine_ , it’s all just _fine._

Or rather, it will be once you shake these freaking drones!

You leap for a drainpipe, scaling up it in a near lizard like fashion to get a higher viewpoint. There! Off to the left there’s what looks like some kind of nightclub or bar with a rooftop seating and a dancefloor. It’s swarming with monsters and there’s a door that must lead down into the rest of the club. The distant beat of music has you booking it over the rooftops. It’ll be easy enough to slip into the dancing crowd. Less cameras there too, not like the streets.

Another blast from a Blue nearly skims your leg, close enough to make goosebumps rise on your skin. Come on, come on, you’ve almost made it! You pump your legs faster, lungs burning in your chest like living flames.

There’s a wide gape between your building and the club. You don’t let yourself wonder if you can make it, only push yourself faster. There’s an open space right in front of the door, you’ve just got to jump, land and tumble and vanish into the crowd. Go, go, go!

You don’t slow as you approach the edge of the building and leap. There’s nothing but air below your feet and open space before you-

And then a monster opens the door and steps directly into your path.

There’s no time for you to give more than a yelp of warning before you slam right on top of the monster, sending both of you tumbling to the ground. The crowd around you gasps and scrambles out of the way as you roll wildly for several seconds. You gasp harshly as you come to a stop, the wind knocked out of you. Ow, ow, ow!

Your head jerks up to assess the damage. The monster you knocked over is surrounded by shattered glass. The ground is darkened by a spreading puddle of alcohol, reaching the edge of your shoe.

You’re a little too busy staring at the monster to notice or care.

It’s not enough that you landed directly on top of a monster oh no. You just had to go and slam into a _fire_ monster. Flames of purple and green hiss and spit harshly as he lifts himself up onto his elbows. The entirety of his head is made of up of fire with two…. -ears? Horns? - on either side of his face. It’s a little hard to tell, given the shifting state of them save for blackened tips. Whatever they are, they’re sharp and elongated, making his already rather demonic face even more frightening.

His pristine teal and black patterned shirt is torn on one sleeve and his leather overcoat has a muddy footprint thanks to a puddle you’d splashed through during your run. His eyes, made of white flame that glows with the intensity of captured stars, lock onto yours. A snarl rumbles from him, mouth splitting to reveal fiery fangs bared right at you.

Before you can say a thing, before you can scramble to your feet or offer any kind of apology, a scream rings out.

“Blue drones!”

The fire monster’s head snaps up as the drones that followed you fan out into a half circle around the building. All around you, monsters begin to surge for the door, nearly trampling you in their mad dash. You yelp and roll out of the way, getting spilled drinks, food and who knows what else smeared on your clothes.

The fire monster gets to his feet with an eerie grace, staring up at the flashing drones. He pulls the edge of his coat back into place, brushing it off carefully, slowly. Then several fireballs the same shade of his body burst into existence in a circle at the level of his shoulders.

The drones seem to hesitate.

A blink from him sends the fireballs shooting into each drone, scorching and burning and exploding all of them in a great flash of heat and light. The monsters remaining on the roof cheer as the broken Blues wobble and fall to the street below.

You don’t stick around to celebrate with them. You dash for the far side of the roof, using the distraction of exploding drones to weave your way through the crowd. You jump, grabbing a bit of scaffolding sticking out to swing yourself onto a porch ledge on the neighboring building. You pause just once and turn to see the fire monster standing at the very edge of the railing, staring you down.

You shudder and take off, quickly climbing over the porch landing and out of sight.

~~~~~~~

“Hey, you’re not dead!” is the greeting Faith gives you when you at last make it into the agreed upon meeting place. Which is just a set of boulders under a bridge next to Faith’s apartment. All three of them are in better shape than you and they wrinkle their noses as you approach. “What did you do, go swimming at a bar?”

“Yeah just about,” you grump as you pull your mask off and free your hair from the hood. You give them a rundown of what happened, which has all three of them laughing uproariously. Which, in hindsight, yeah it was pretty funny, but you were legitimately scared that fire guy was going to roast you like he did those drones!

Tyler goes to pat you, thinks better of it and instead smirks. “I bet that was an impressive run though.”

“Course it was, it’s me,” you reply with perhaps only the tiniest bit of bright pride in your voice as you shuck off the jacket. “Faith, I’m borrowing a top and pants.”

She tosses you the key to her place. “Just hurry up, we’ve got to be in place before the trigger activates.”

“So it worked?”

“I guess we’re about to find out!”

You change, opting for black buckled harem pants, a white top and gray overlay, something simple, casual and lose enough to make a fast get away if the need should arise. What can you say, you’re still a tad jumpy about the close call.

Once you’re cleaned up and smell a little less like old alcohol and sweat, you join the others and take express line down into the city. You’d rather just run but the point now is avoiding anything that might cause suspicion to be put on you. Because clearly four masked people running around on rooftops isn’t suspicious enough.

“Where are we going?” you ask Tyler, your body naturally swaying to keep your balance with the motion of the rickety train system.

“There’s a monster bar in the west side next to the New Snowdin quarter, I have a few friends who like to hang out there. They don’t turn humans away, or so I hear.”

You hum in noncommittal interest and turn your attention back out to the city rushing by. Your reflection looks back at you and you play with a few of the purple strands. You do feel bad about crashing into that monster. And bringing in a bunch of Blue drones on the party. Still, if he openly destroyed them like that, he’s got to be one of the more powerful ones that can either pay off the damage fees or has connections. It’s probably for the best that you just booked it. Explaining why you had been leaping onto his roof in the first place would’ve been awkward at best.

You get off after few stops, landing in the heart of the monster district. Despite the hour, the place is still absolutely bustling with activity. There are plenty of humans strewn about, but the clear majority of the crowd is made up of monsters. All shapes, all sizes, all living their lives. You always have to take a moment to catch your breath when you come to this area. It’s absolutely incredible, like some kind of fantasy story come right to life.

Most monsters give you glances as you walk by, perhaps still just as off guard by the humans in their presence. Still, they don’t really do anything, continuing on with their night. Hopefully though, that’ll change in the next few minutes.

Tyler leads you through the streets, occasionally checking his phone. It’s not too long before you spy a building that you’re pretty sure is your destination. The outside is polished, gleaming black with glistening hues of purple, red and blue that catch the light and shift with every step you take. Written in elegant, curving letters is a glowing neon sign that proclaims ‘ _Grillby’s’._ There’s a line outside the door and a large dragon type monster standing at the front of it, occasionally letting people in.

There’s…something familiar about it. You can’t put your finger on it. You’re certain you’ve never been here before. A building this striking is pretty hard to forget.

You all file into the line, inching forward. Faith taps her foot impatiently, grumbling and sighing under breath. Liam, the ever patient one, just grins at her fidgeting. You do notice there are a few ‘Hiring Now’ signs pasted on the blacked out windows of the lower level.

When you reach the front of the line, the dragon monster pauses and looks the four of you over for a long moment. “You ever been here before?” he finally asks, voice as deep and rumbling as you would expect.

“No but we’re here on the recommendation of a few friends,” Tyler answers. “Shenay and Dev?”

The dragon blinks and a few huffs of smoke. Finally, he jerks his head and steps back, allowing the four of you to enter the bar.

Monster bar is a poor name for what this place is. It’s absolutely _massive_ inside, decked out in shades of purple and black. It screams elegance in a well-cared for and polished kind of way but edged with the thrills of night life and magic. There are hovering lights captured in thin metal containers up along the wall, though it does little to compete with the shadowy corners where monsters lurk in booths, nursing drinks or doing…other things.

There’s a live band placed in the center of the room, up on a lifted platform of silver and yet more black. Not a single member is human, and their instruments range from typical guitars and keyboards to pieces you couldn’t hope to name. The music thrums in your bones, calling to a place in your heart that pleads at you to dance. To lose yourself in the beat and rush of bodies crowded together on a dance floor.

You shake your head, ignoring the pull for now as you follow the others to the main bar. It’s a gorgeous piece made of glass molded and shaped into curving tongues of fire in a way that shouldn’t even be possible for glass to make. Bottles line the shelves, more brands and flavors than you’ve ever seen before in your life. A snake like monster in a crisp bartender suit takes your orders and you can’t help but stare at the gorgeous shimmering of white scales over her form. She gives you a wink as she pours your drink and you smile goofily in return.

There’s no free seating down here and the music is too loud anyway so you all head for the stairs that lead up to the balcony. Your head is still spinning a little so when you reach the roof, it takes you a few seconds to realize that you do indeed know this place.

It’s _the_ roof. The one where you made such a scene. Not one sign of the drones remains, every piece cleaned up. Even the stains from the spilled drinks are gone.

No way. There’s _no_ way! You blink rapidly several times, trying to keep a hold on the rising panic. Calm down, it’s been well over two hours since then. The chances that the guy is still here is minimal and the chance that you’d run into him are even-

“I don’t believe I’ve met the four of you,” a smooth voice nearly purrs from behind you.

_Oh shit._

You spin around. And damn it, there he is, changed into a new burgundy shirt and pressed leather jacket. He’s tall now that he’s standing and not, you know, flat on the ground after being landed on by an idiot, towering a good two feet over you. His glowing white eyes shift to you and a slow grin spreads over his face. He offers the smallest of bows. “My name is Grillby. Welcome to my establishment.”

_Oh shit!_


	2. Do We Have A Deal?

You’re dead. _You’re so dead._

No, calm down, relax. You were wearing a mask when you landed on him. Sure, the purple hair is a bit of a giveaway, but lots of people have colored hair. A quick glance around is enough for you to spot at least three others with various shades of purple! Okay, yes you did make eye contact with him, but it was only for a second! And you had already jumped onto the next building so there’s a chance he didn’t get that good of a look anyway. Besides, it’s not like you’re a literal stack of fire in the shape of a man, you’re just…you.

Hardly memorable at all.

At least, that’s what you tell yourself. But the fact that Grillby, the owner of the entire place, has taken it upon himself to serve your table directly has you squirming in your seat while sweat rolls down your back. Your face actually resembles your mostly untouched drink in terms of liquid beads actually.

“Hey Shore?” Liam says casually, looking at you over the rim of his titos and lime. “You’re looking a bit like a sinner in a church, you good?”

“Mmhm.” You take a swig of your drink, choking as the spicy taste of it hits your throat. You can’t quite tell them why you’re so twitchy, not when the reveal of the run is about to happen. If Tyler thinks your cover might even possibly be blown, he’ll make you all book it and everyone will miss the entire thing. Besides, it’s not like Grillby can just…drag you from your seat if he does recognize you.

Right?

Your eyes shift over to the rooftop bar. The purple flamed monster is leaning against one of the shelves, simply staring at you with narrowed eyes. He’d been nothing but polite, asking about what brought you all out tonight, what sort of taste were you looking for, would you care to see the specials?

He didn’t say anything out of the ordinary, brought your drinks over and then took up his position by the bar in a perfect picture of a club owner watching over his domain. And yet, every time his gaze moved to you, his sharp white mouth would curl up slightly, barely noticeable among the flickering flames.

You stare right back at him, crossing your ankles as you slouch down a little more.

Faith’s nails click against the screen of her tablet. How she manages to keep them so pristine and clean is a mystery. After a run where you caught a nail on a piece of awning and nearly ripped it clean off, you’ve kept them cut short. Even so, more often than not your nails sported some sort of grime or chips. Her own drink is full but as you watch, she grabs the glass and downs the whole thing in a single go, not taking her eyes off the screen.

You wince. “How can you stomach drinking it so fast?”

Faith just grunts, still clearly focused on her work. You leave her to it.

The sound of the previews for the news catch your ear, drawing your eye to one of the screens embedded in the dark stone of the bar. Ten minutes to go til…

Wait.

That’s you on the screen.

“This footage was captured by a civilian who saw the jumper leap down from the very top of Guardian Tower Five in the industry district,” the holographic news lady reports. “Who is this person and what were they doing? Coming up in just a few minutes.”

The video is shaky, taken from a pretty far distance. There’s no clear shot of your features as you freefall away from the following drones. The push and leap away from the building truly is just as impressive as you imagined it would be.

_Nice._

What’s not so nice is the fact that footage was captured at all. It’s not the first time of course; given your many stunts and runs across the city, it was inevitable that someone would get you all on camera at some point. Hence the masks. But tonight of all nights for someone to see!

Tyler’s brows have raised, a soft snort escaping him. “I guess asking for subtle from you is too much.”

“You wanted a target, I gave them a target,” you hiss back. “Besides, if they managed to actually ping me, I think we would’ve had a way more eventful ride over here.”

“True that.”

Liam taps a finger against his glass. “You might want to change the hair though; it’s not going to take a genius to make the connection after-”

“I’m not changing the purple!” you protest. You had finally found the perfect shade! You run a hand through it, pouting. In the UV light flickering over the rooftop, it nearly glows. Much like the fire monster _that is still staring at you._

Oh boy, your drink is not sitting well in your stomach. This is why you rarely drink the stuff. "I'll be right back," you announce, your chair scraping as you push it back and stand.

Faith’s head finally jerks up. Her eyes are bright in that near manic way they get when she’s deeply focused on shifting through difficult programs. “You can’t leave! Our magnum opus is about to begin!”

“I’ll be two minutes, promise.” You quickly duck away before they can protest further. It’s not too difficult to find the restrooms, weaving your way through the dancing crowd until you come upon a hallway with marked doors. You duck inside, take care of business and then after washing your hands, take a moment to wet a paper towel and press it against the back of your neck.

What is that guy’s problem?! Okay, now you do have to admit if some rando had smacked directly onto you and then run off without a word, you’d be pretty pissed too. But why hasn’t he actually confronted you? Demanded an apology? Is he enjoying watching you squirm?

 _Jerk_.

Your legs are practically twitching as you stand there, begging you to just start running. Running has its risks, sure, but you’d much rather face the scrape of stone and breathtaking heights in the face of being stuck in the stifling crowds or caught under the relentless gaze of a silent watcher. Ugh, whatever. You’ll see the program Faith implemented in the tower run and then you can take off. You’ve just got to avoid sour grape man until then. You clap your hands over your cheeks, nodding at your reflection.

It’s mere seconds after you leave the bathroom that a hand claps down on your shoulder and a shriek catches in your throat as you’re roughly pulled to the side. Your back hits against a wall and suddenly you find yourself caged in a heat that smells of smoke, earthen spice and charcoal.

“Let’s have a proper talk, shall we?”

Grillby is even taller than you thought, easily towering over you as his white flamed eyes narrow and his mouth hovers on the edge of a thin smirk. Various shades of purple and green flicker over his entire head, casting light upon his immaculate suit and your face. On your shoulder, his gloved hand has an utterly inhuman heat seeping through it.

Even as both fear and anger fight within you, you can’t help but fully admit to yourself that this is one of the most beautiful monsters you’ve ever seen. But more so, he’s one of the most dangerous, that you are certain of. It’s a thought you quickly shove aside as you do the same to the hand gripping your shoulder. You can only hope he doesn’t feel the slight tremble in your fingers.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” you snap.

“Funny, that’s _exactly_ what I was going to ask you.” His voice, still the same smokey soft as it was before, nevertheless now has a hard edge to it that makes goosebumps rise on your skin. “You’ve got to either be incredibly sure of yourself or very stupid to come right back here after that stunt you pulled.”

Well, there goes any doubt that he recognized you. Your lip curls at the thin insult even as your face starts to heat. “Look, it was an accident-”

“An accident that you had a small army of drones hot on your tail?”

“Ah, well, no not that part, but I swear, I didn’t plan on landing on you, it was just bad timing. I’ll admit I shouldn’t have run off but-”

“What exactly could a little human like you do to get all those Blues coming after you?”

You jerk your chin up. “That’s none of your business.”

A small snort escapes Grillby. “Not my business? You made it my business when you brought those things to _my_ bar, disturbing my guests and destroyed a very expensive bottle of wine. Not to mention one of my favorite suits.”

You wince internally. You’re not exactly rolling in hard cash right now. Or ever. You’ve managed, with part time gigs and whatnot but living in the city takes just about every spare penny you’ve got. You release a low hiss of air. “Fine, how much?”

Grillby then names a figure that has your jaw dropping. “You’re shitting me!”

“Not remotely.” Grillby picks at a nonexistent piece of lint on his crisp jacket. “Image is everything in this city and I have a reputation to maintain. That particular bottle was going to a very special customer and I am very fortunate to be smart enough to have extra on hand.” He flares darkly, a plume of smoke curling out from between his fangs. “You nearly cost me something worth far more than a ruined suit. What are you going to do about that?”

 _Crap. Crap, crap, crap!_ What _are_ you going to do?

There’s a part of you that wants to instinctively press back even harder against the wall at your back as Grillby silently stares, waiting for your reply. This guy is absolutely trying to intimidate and frighten you; you’ve seen it before. This whole city is full of people like this, using their positions to get what they want through whatever means necessary. All this guy would have to do is touch you with his bare hand to hurt you. And by the slight tilt of his head, he knows that’s the exact thought running through your head. Come on Shore, _think!_

You suck in a quick, quiet breath. Well. If this _asshole_ expects you to cower and beg or _worse_ , offer up your body as a means of paying him back, he’s got another thing coming. You refuse to back down under that fiery gaze and stare right back. “Hire me.”

He blinks. Whatever he expected you to say, it wasn’t that. “Excuse me?”

“I saw the sign downstairs, you’re looking for more workers, right? I don’t have the money to pay you back, but I can work it off.”

It’s hard to tell given the ever changing shifting of his face but going by the several seconds of silence he gives you, he’s completely taken off guard. “You…want a job?”

To be frank, _no_ , absolutely not. Especially not one working for _him_ , but you roll with it, spewing out a confidence that is one hundred percent faked. “You can take it out of my wages. I’ll work off the cost of the bottle and suit, then you’ll never have to see me again.”

Wow. Even you can’t help but wince at how pathetic the entire proposal sounds. He opens his mouth, probably either to tell you to you’re crazy or where you can stick your idea when-

The chime of the eleven o’clock news begins. It’s a familiar sound, meant to draw one’s attention, even if most had learned to tune it out or merely glance over to see the highlight of the day. However, it was immediately clear that the song playing isn’t quite right. It hits a few notes wrong and is boosted by the undertones of snazzy electric pop. At that, far more gazes turn towards the screens either on their phones or the monitors up on the wall and behind the bar. Even Grillby pauses and follows your stare to the TV.

The image on it, the normal news logo glitches out and is replaced by a darkened figure standing before a camera. Their face is mostly covered by a plain black mask but what isn’t is a mess of pixels. But you know exactly who it is.

 _“People, monsters and denizens of Daiport! Good evening!”_ Tyler, his voice utterly masked and warped into an anonymous mix of female, male and everything in between, bows grandly. Behind him stands three more similarly masked figures. You remember grinning grandly under your face cover watching Tyler ham it up for the camera.

_“I apologize for the sudden change in programing. You see, today is a special day for a member of our community that everyone knows. Or at least, everyone has heard of. For it is the birthday of the great Jack Dezos!”_

Jack Dezos. Business tycoon of Daiport. The man was the one responsible for turning Daiport into the drone capital of the world, using monster technology to create a new level of tools and weapons to be used by whoever had the highest offer. And by doing so, caused thousands to lose their jobs. Didn’t help the monsters any though; most turned their anger towards the new race, causing new tensions and fights to break out which only called for more of the Dezos drones to be made to keep up monitoring the city.

It wasn’t a secret that the man had the law keepers in his hand and used that to his full advantage. He was a full on crook, everyone knew it. But those with the power to stop him either refused to or eagerly egged him on, and those who wanted change simply lacked the means to do anything about it.

Until you came across a downed Blue drone and hauled it back for Faith to gleefully take apart that is.

 _“Knowing our dear Jack, I’m sure he’s currently up in that tower of his, partaking of all the fine things in life,”_ the ‘mystery’ figure continues. _“Alas! It would seem that in the rush and hustle of so fine a life, he’s forgotten to share the joy of this day with the citizens of this equally fine city!”_ Tyler puts a gloved hand up to his face, tapping his blurred out nose with a finger. _“But worry not dear citizens; we have taken the liberty of preparing a gift for you. If you would all turn your eyes skywards…we will begin.”_

The screen again flickers and is replaced with footage from a camera set up near the Dezos tower but your eyes as well as most in the club look up towards the sounds of increasing buzzing.

All over the city, shipping drones, security drones, construction drones and Blue drones suddenly turn away from their programed runs. Even from here, you can see Faith’s gleeful grin as she watches the result of her work soar higher and higher into the air. They move in breathtaking patterns, narrowly missing one another as they zip and screech by at ridiculous speeds.

Then two of them fly too close and crash together, resulting in an absolutely spectacular explosion. Gasps and cheers ring out over the crowd staring upwards as it happens again and again until the sky is alight with a firework display of crashing drones. You can only imagine Dezos and the shareholders staring in horror as millions of their dollars vanish in a glorious cloud of flame and metal parts.

As the last of the drones fall back to the earth in smoking bits, the four of you reappear on the screen.

 _“Happy birthday Jack,”_ Liam drawls.

Faith leans forward, her snarling mask bright and glowing. _“I hope our gift to you helps you to realize that you don’t control all of us.”_

 _“You’ve got a choice now Jack_.” Your voice, though masked and made unrecognizable, doesn’t quite hide the glee behind it. _“We know you’ve got more drones where those came from; but you can take this chance to do the thing that someone with your resources should do. Fund some charities, maybe pay the ones who give you your riches decent wages.”_

 _“We’ll be watching,”_ Tyler promises, altered voice low and promising. _“It’s time to pay back the ones who got you to the top of your tower.”_

The image of the four of you lingers for a moment longer before it flickers and dies, replaced by a very startled newswoman. Absolute mayhem breaks out as everyone bursts into a mixture of glee, confusion, and yelling. Perhaps one of the only ones still standing is utter silence is Grillby.

Who still has you very much within grabbing distance.

Ah. Well.

 _Crap_.

It wouldn’t exactly take a genius to put two and two together. And you can see the smallest of grins creeping over Grillby’s face as he slowly tilts his head at you. You’re in trouble now. Forget the debt, all he’d have to do is ping for one of the law enforcers and hold you until they got here and then boom, he probably gets a reward for capturing one of the tower runners at the very least. If you move fast enough, maybe you can at least get Ty’s attention so they can bolt before-

“You’re hired.”

You blink. “What?”

“I said ‘you’re hired’,” Grillby repeats dryly. “Or did you change your mind?” 

It almost feels like someone has flicked a finger directly on your brain. “Uh, um, yes-I mean no! I didn’t change my mind-”

“Then be here at eight tomorrow morning.” He makes a small noise, like the sound of paper igniting. “What’s your name?”

“…. You can call me Shore.”

He nods, just once and finally takes a step back away from you. “Until tomorrow then.”

What…the actual hell is happening. Carefully, you edge past him, fighting the urge to start running.

“Oh, and Shore?”

You flinch, looking back at him. “What?”

He grins, fiery fangs flashing. “Do use the stairs when you leave this time.”

You can only grimace in return as an answer and finally hurry back to your table. The other three are cheering and toasting, looking for all the world like another group finding hilarity in the strange event that just happened. But when Faith sees you, she scowls, throwing her hands up.

“Please tell me you didn’t miss the whole thing!” she shrieks.

Liam’s brows furrow, seeing the look on your face. “What’s wrong?”

“Uh…guys, I think I might be in trouble,” you mumble.


	3. When Life Gives You Lemons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Say hi at TheNinjaMouse or TheNinjaWrites on tumblr!

You seriously contemplate running away.

As Faith had pointed out…or rather, screamed out, being forced to work for a clearly dangerous monster was a very, very bad idea. You’re inclined to agree. Once the shock and rush of the moment has given way to the reality of the mess you’ve landed in, the stupidity of your actions slams into you like a train. You can’t go work for a monster in the heart of monster district! Much less one so obviously dangerous. For crying out loud, he’s made of fire! And he took down the drones following you with no problem, meaning he’s either powerful enough to brush off any repercussions from the ‘law’ or rich enough to pay off the right people.

Probably both.

The glee and sense of accomplishment from pulling off the drone hacking is understandably not at the forefront of your mind as the four of you escape back to Liam’s place. It’s a nondescript building on the outside, hiding a customized den of (somewhat legally) obtained pieces of hardware that keep the entire place washed in color and projected screens. At the moment, every single one displays various angles of the spectacle in the sky. It almost feels as if you’re caught adrift in the middle of it, showered in harmless flame and metal bits.

Too bad that the possibility of real flame is a little too close.

“Ty! There’s got to be something we can do!” Faith pleads on your behalf since you’re currently stuck slumped in one of the various rotund beanbags spread about. “She got those Blues off our asses, we owe her.”

“Yeah, I got it,” Tyler snaps. He’s been absolutely on edge ever since you mumbled out your situation. This was supposed to be his big night of glory, even if it couldn’t leave your small group. He’s tapping at his phone. “Give me a sec.”

Liam, the only one not actively freaking out, watches the replaying explosions projected in the air. “Look, if it’s a money issue, we can get that easily enough-”

“Oh sorry, Faith took the rest of our ‘Illegal Parkour Club’ fund for that hacking gizmo.”

“Wait, we have a fund?”

“ _Well not anymore, do we?”_

“It’s not the money though, is it?” You stare up at the ceiling. “It’s the fact that this guy knows what we did and could blow the whistle on us.”

“So why didn’t he?” Liam, cool, calm and _infuriatingly_ collected Liam, makes a solid point. “No reason to accept your offer cause, no offense, it’s a sucker’s deal.”

“Sucker’s deal for me you mean,” you mumble. Groaning, you run your hands through your hair. “Grillby wants something; that’s the truth of it. Ty, you took us there, what do you know about him?”

Tyler rubs at his chin. “Not a lot. As far as monster names go, he’s one that just about every monster knows but no one really knows much about. Or…is willing to talk about anyway. He makes good drinks. Isn’t a guy anyone messes with.”

“ _Insightful_.”

“Look, maybe we can turn this around.” Uh oh. He’s got his scheming face on. “Like it or not, you didn’t get caught by Blues because he got rid of them. We might be able to work out some cleaner paths through the monster district with a connection to a guy like him.”

Your outrage makes your voice pitch up as you shriek, “Are you seriously telling me to make _nice_ with Sour Grape man?”

“I’m saying you don’t have a choice right now!” He sighs and winces apologetically. “Fact is, I can’t get that money to pay him off right away. I _can_ get it, but I need time. We’ve got to keep our heads down for a little bit after tonight. For now, just play along with this. And maybe see if you can schmooze your way into finding good paths through that area.”

You could argue. You’ve half a mind to. But Ty does have a point. Monsters have a great love of traps and puzzles and more than once you guys have all had close shaves with them. If nothing else, you might be able to squeeze some information out about the more deadly ones and how to avoid them.

“Fine,” you sigh. “Just remember me if I get roasted alive.”

“Don’t even joke about that.” Faith, still clearly frustrated, gives you a hard look. “You need to be careful, okay?”

You grin at her, hiding the curl of unease in your chest. “I’m always careful.”

~~~

Morning comes too soon, smoggy, gross, and entirely too fast paced for the early hour. Why the hell do you have to come in so freaking early anyway? It’s a _nightclub_ last you checked! You blearily fight to keep your eyes open as you ride the transit train into the monster district, jerking awake once or twice at the feeling of eyes on you. But a glance around the car of people heading into work or home after a night of bad choices reveals nothing so you brush it off as paranoia.

You leave the train at the closest stop to the club (one of the few humans to do so) and you can’t help but marvel at the difference of this place between night and day. At night, this entire area is alive with magic and monsters. It beckons with shiny promises of wonder and dangerous delight, like a jeweled snake ready to gobble you up should you lose your way.

But now…it’s almost peaceful. Quiet. There are still monsters about, setting up for the day or traveling to various jobs. But the air is softer. Tired. The monsters that stare as you pass only do so with a light curiosity and only mild suspicion. Most look too sleepy to really care. It’s nice, though it doesn’t quite quell your growing dread as you near the club.

It’s just as impressive in the daytime, the stone of the building glinting softly in the early morning sun. The shimmering lights are off, the doors are closed and the entire place looms like a slumbering beast.

And you’re about to go and poke it.

You take a deep breath. Count to ten. And you approach the door. Hesitantly, you reach out and tug on it.

It’s locked.

For a moment you bluescreen. Well dang. Now what? You press your face against the doors, shielding your head in an attempt to look inside and see if someone is milling about and can open the door for you. To your dismay, you see absolutely no one.

“Damn it, of course he didn’t say anything about locked doors,” you mutter under your breath.

“Quite an oversight on his part, wasn’t it?”

You yelp and spring back, nearly slamming into the owner of the voice. It’s a monster. A _very_ tall, slightly humanoid monster, well over six feet tall. He’s elegantly dressed in a black overcoat that reaches down nearly to his ankles with thick boots to match. A red turtleneck pokes out from the collar of the coat and you briefly wonder how the heck the guy isn’t sweltering in the building heat of the day before your attention is entirely caught by the sight of his face.

A stark white skull topped with a short brimmed and studded newsboy cap and a wide grinning smile looks down at you. Two great cracks dance sharply over his head, one trailing down from his left eye socket and the other shooting up from the right to vanish under his hat. That socket almost looks a little droopy, though the red light inside gleams just as bright as its twin on the left. At your staring, his smile grows slightly and you’re more than a little alarmed to notice that his pointed incisor teeth look very, _very_ sharp.

“I must say, I wasn’t entirely expecting you to actually show up.” His voice is…strange, tinged with some kind of accent, though you can’t possibly hope to pinpoint what it is. As he speaks, his hands shift with movement, finger bones bending into quick and subtle shapes. “Showing up is a good start, points for that.”

All you can do is stare blankly for several long seconds. “Um, who are you?” 

“How invigorating; a true introduction.” He bows slightly, just a tip of the head. “I am Doctor W. D. Gaster.”

You blink. Gaster as in.... “One of the Royal Scientists?”

A socket twitches. " _Head_ Scientist yes," he says smoothly. 

Now _him_ , you've heard of. Everyone has heard of the Royal Scientists who work directly at the side of the King and Queen. There's two of them; Doctor Alphys who mostly works in robotics and the mysterious Doctor Gaster, who had just quietly appeared one day, standing next to the royals like he had always been there. No fanfare, no grand announcement. But all anyone had to do was look a little beyond surface level to see that his hand was involved in just about every aspect of monster infrastructure and technology. As the hacking and computer nerd ultra-couple, Faith and Liam both have a not so quiet fascination with his work. But you had no idea that he was a towering, sharp toothed skeleton. 

Why the heck is he _here?_ "Um-" 

"And you're Shore. Or more accurately-" He says your full name then, your _real name_ and your heart plummets into your chest. _What the hell?!_

Your eyes bug and he waves a gloved hand carelessly. "Oh, don't be so alarmed; I do digs on anyone involved with this club beyond the level of casual guest. Given what happened last night, I have a little bit more of a personal interest in you." 

Well, that sends the worst kind of chills up your spine. What exactly does he mean by that? Just the falling on the sour grape man part or the illegal climb up a tower and hacking bit? Either way, you want to call out his creepy ass but if he's got some kind of connection with Grillby (and you've got a growing suspicion that's the case), you don't want to piss him off. "Guess that saves me an introduction then," you said carefully. "So, I guess you're a... friend of Grillby's?" 

Gaster's eye lights glint at that. "Something like that. Now! Enough standing around, Cinders does get so heated at tardiness." 

A key quite suddenly appears with a flourish of his fingers and he bends his tall frame slightly as he fiddles with the door. He glances back at you, grin widening slightly. “Just a little tip; try to watch your language in here, this is a classy establishment.”

With that, he throws the doors open, strides inside and loudly bellows, “Where is my favorite hellspawn bastard?!”

You trail after the skeleton, honestly not sure if you should laugh or be very alarmed. The lights are off (save for a few over by the bar) and interior of the club is empty; the place is utterly void of the life that pounded through your bones just last night.

Well, that’s not quite correct.

You can very distinctly hear the sound of crackling fire and some very colorful cursing from behind the bar. Grillby himself rises up from under the counter, rubbing his head and scowling fiercely. In his free hand is a wrench and the sleeves of his button up are rolled to the elbows.

“Damn it Gaster! I told you not to throw the doors open like that,” he snarls, voice carrying through the empty space.

“Aw, did you bonk your head?”

“Shut up.”

Gaster, ignoring the flickers of color flashing harshly through Grillby’s flames, tilts his head and walks with a near gliding grace to the bar. “Is that cooler still giving you trouble? I told you I would fix it.”

“And have it shoot lasers or some other nonsense at anyone who opened it? No thank you.” Grillby sets down the wrench and sighs. “Piece of human garbage.”

“Speaking of-!” Gaster gestures to you as your jaw drops in indignant rage. “You forgot to unlock the door.” 

Grillby blinks, seeming to just now notice you standing in the shadow of the loud skeleton. “You actually showed up.”

Never mind the fact that you had actually (briefly) considered running away, you’re almost offended at the fact he was so sure you wouldn’t show up he didn’t even bother unlocking the door. You fold your arms, glaring fiercely. “We made a deal. So here I am.” 

Grillby’s quiet for a moment, clearly giving you another silent assessment. Then, lightly, as he rolls his sleeves back down, he says, “Saves me the trouble of having to track you down I suppose.”

That nearly sends you bolting. But no, you’ve got to stand your ground, show him that you’re not going to so easy to push around. He’s bullshitting.

He’s…gotta be bullshitting.

He circles round the bar. “Come on then. Gaster, do not touch my cooler.”

“You think I’m going to miss this?” The skeleton trails after you like a cool breeze as you follow Grillby into a side room that goes deeper into the club. It makes goosebumps crawl up your neck, but you manage not to rub at the skin and keep your eyes fixed on the fire monster ahead. Through his shirt you can see the outline of muscles or…whatever he has that equals muscles.

How does that work anyway, he’s made of _fire_ —

Your attention is drawn from that mystery as your surroundings shift slightly. Though the walls are not nearly built to the same standards as the bar outside, there’s still a shocking amount of detail and care put into a place that you’re assuming is more of a backstage kind of area. It’s far nicer than any of the back areas of restaurants and bars that you’ve seen, for work or whatever.

The place is—simply put— _clean_. Not that that really surprises you, given what you’ve already seen of Grillby’s nature. You have a feeling that most of the work you’ll have to do is stuff of that nature. Cleaning, sweeping, what have you.

Grillby finally leads you to another side door and opening it, jerks his head to motion you inside. At this, a terrible spike of unease jolts up your spine. “What’s in there?” you ask coldly, letting your hand casually fall to rest against the pocketknife hidden in your pocket.

“It’s a storage room, human. For food.” he answers just as evenly. A few sparks fly up from his mouth as he grins sharply. “I’m not going to assault you if that’s what you’re worried about. I have more decorum than…well, you. Not to mention better taste.”

Gaster snickers loudly behind you as color flushes your cheeks. You push ahead, taking care not to brush against the fire monster as you do.

The room is massive but rather underwhelming in terms of grandeur. Indeed, it’s just a storage room with shelves upon shelves of boxes, cans and packages of food. What gets your jaw dropping is just the sheer _number_ of it all. There’s enough to feed a stadium full of people in here!

“Inventory needs to be updated,” Grillby says as you stare around with wide eyed shock. He gestures to several boxes piled up near the door. “Have you done stock work before?”

“Uh, yeah, um, a few times,” you mutter. “How does…do you really use all this food before it expires?”

“This is monster made food.” Gaster leans in around you, quite completely ignoring any personal bubble. To your credit, you don’t flinch like before. “It doesn’t expire nearly so fast, not like your human food.”

“Oh.” That’s right. Monster food isn’t exactly common, since monsters themselves have more need of it than humans but you’ve had it enough times to know it works different than human food in terms of digestion.

Grillby snags a thick binder off the wall and holds it out. “Check numbers, resupply from these boxes and move older stock to the front.”

“R-right.” This is…honestly kind of tame compared to what you were expecting. You take the binder, frowning at little at the weight of it.

“Lunch is in four hours; have it done by then.” Grillby then proceeds to hook his arm around Gaster’s neck, forcing the tall skeleton to hunch over as he squawks loudly. “ _You_ have more important work to do than sit here and ogle.”

You stare as Grillby easily manhandles one of the most important monsters in the city out of the room, said monster protesting loudly enough to be heard even as they move down the hall.

All right then. You…better get to it?

You look around the room again, a small huff that might be relief passing through your lips. Stock work. Could be worse.

~~~~~~

It takes you an hour and a half to retract that statement. You’re not exactly weak, you can’t be with all the parkouring and silks work you do, but there’s a difference in running and climbing compared to lifting absurdly heavy boxes up and down a stepstool ladder. It’s a task you quickly learned you were going to have to do to get an accurate count because for some reason, none of the boxes have any kind of numbering on the outside. The shelves are all three boxes deep and after a few futile attempts to lean around and trying to count from above, you’ve resigned yourself to taking the boxes down one by one to count the contents within.

Up and down and up and down. Over and over, the numbers swimming in your head. It’s mind numbingly _boring_. Not to mention, going by the date in the binder, a full inventory hasn’t been in done quite some time. Makes sense if one can stock up for months without worrying about food going bad. Your lower back aches, already sore from your fall that caused this mess in the first place.

As you work, your mind naturally goes to Grillby. _Cinders_ , Gaster had called him. The two of them had to be…friends, you suppose. At the very least, the two of them don’t seem to hold the level of distant respect you would have expected for a Royal Scientist and a powerful fire monster.

Maybe they just bonded over being assholes. 

All things considering, Grillby’s been rather civil. You were expecting all daggers and burning glares but aside from a general distaste for your presence, he seems to be already bored with the whole affair.

Not that you’re going to let your guard down just yet.

You finally reach the final shelf just a bit before the four hour mark. It’ll be close but you’ll get it done. Carefully adjusting your hold on a box, you make your way back down the ladder to the floor. Step by step-

The sound you hear is quiet, just a scrape over the concrete floor. You instinctively tense, turning your head to look. There’s just a brief moment when you take in the fact that someone is standing there, someone with glimmering white scales, oh isn’t that the snake bartender from last night? You should introduce yourself-

Then all you see is blue. Beautiful, gleaming, swirling blue. It encompasses your vision, and your arms go heavy and numb. The box slips from your grip and hits the ground, scattering lemons all over the floor. Oh…Grillby’s going to be mad about that….

Your ears ring with a low hissing. A flash of crimson red cuts through the blue as the snake monster’s tongue flicks out for the briefest moment. The snake monster moves closer and some distant, distant part of you smothered by blue flails and screams at you to _run_.

You can’t move. You can’t even _breathe_. All you can do stare with blurring, wavering vision as a great maw opens up and pure white fangs glint in the blue light and your heart claws up your throat, oh _god_ , you’re going to be eaten-!

A flash of purple cuts through the blue and then a heavy thump and a loud yelp shatters the heavy pressure holding you in place. At the sudden release, your knees buckle, and you clumsily slip off the ladder, landing on your butt on the floor amid the spilled lemons. A humiliating noise that’s partially a gasp but mostly a choked off scream rips from your mouth as you grasp at your chest. What the hell, _what the_ _hell_!

Grillby’s standing there, fist poised above the white snake. She’s hissing loudly, clutching at her head. “I told you not to do that, didn’t I?” he says calmly.

“I wasn’t going to _eat_ her,” the snake snarls. Her voice is far too light and pleasant for a creature that _literally_ just had its jaws open to swallow you whole. Her eyes are the same stunning blue color that so completely enraptured you. They’re narrowed into slits as she stares at you. “Just checking intensions.” Her voice lingers on the _‘s’_ , drawing it out in a way that makes a shiver shoot up your spine.

“Not your place. Leave.”

Her tongue flicks out again, but she makes no argument. She simply turns and leaves. She has no legs and her long body smoothly slides along the ground with that same quiet scraping you heard before. You don’t quite take a full breath until the tip of her tail vanishes around the corner and then it all comes out in a shaky rush.

“T-thanks,” you wheeze, pulling yourself back to your feet.

Grillby simply looks at you. His horn like ears flick. “Toughen up, or you won’t make it here.”

You take back your thanks. You glare at him. “Oh, forgive me for being caught off guard by a giant snake trying to _eat me_.”

“She wasn’t going to eat you.” He turns to leave. “Clean these up then come to the bar. There’s more work to be done.”

You give it a full fifteen seconds after he exits to kick at one of the lemons. It slams into the wall with a satisfying squelch.

This sucks, this sucks, _this sucks!_


End file.
